richardfm wrote: ↑5 Jun 2022, 12:24pm
Even if they had taken out a patent there would be little they could do to stop a Chinese corporation copying the design.
Jup. I think even w/o a patent there would probably be a good chance against the clones. Brompton successfully sued clones from being sold in Europe well after their patent ran out due to the iconic design being considered unique, part of the brand and thus being protected. This went well against Neobike in 2004, Nishiki in 2008 and Cedtech in I think 2020. They failed however against Dahon regarding the Curl.
I think the same "unique shape" argument would be true for Spurcycle. But, being a small company, going to court is always a huge effort and financial risk. Plus it is one thing to sue someone in Europe and another to sue someone in China - the latter is rather fighting a swarm of angry bees. If you succeed against one another one will simply take over. Even Brompton does not seem to fight the in the meantime countless clones of their bikes that are available in Asia.
On the other hand: If we consider the behaviour of Rockbros in terms of cloning the Spurcycle bell at least morally dirty (if not illegal): Would buying such a bell based on a stolen design just because it is cheaper not be more or less the same as buying a stolen bike in a park just because it's cheaper? Would we go over that as easily as over buying a Rockbros bell? Would we go over that as easily if it was us who invented the Spurcycle? And would then buying other stuff from Rockbros not be the same as making business with someone we know is a criminal and this way supporting him? Would we do that in our local area?
It is always easy to point at someone else's responsibility. The easier, if he is far away and we have no personal relationship. It is far more discomforting if we look at our own behavior, responsibility and possibilities. I do not want to support a behavior like what Rockbros did with Spurcycle, no matter if what they did was illegal or not. Thus I simply do not buy anything from them.